so along with the group of people that ride at night with no lights or reflectors, there's a set of people that ride without either having brakes or are unwilling or unable to use them. and we're not talking hipsters on their fixies. i was riding home from work the other evening and i notice a guy riding towards the same intersection i am. he's riding an old road bike but the bars are flipped upside down so the drops are now on top. the brake levers are on top of the drops. he has the stop sign but it's obvious he's going to roll through. he's looking left but i'm approaching from the right. he's committed when he finally sees me. so instead of grabbing the brakes (which he probably couldn't have reached anyway) he immediately drops a foot to the ground and begins avoidance maneuvers. there's no way he could have stopped but we avoided each other as he went around behind me and he kept on going. i wonder how many times a day he has near misses? how many shoes has he worn through? i see this all to frequently.

i figure he was probably unable to afford a car or the one he has doesn't work. it's usually in the poorer portion of the neighborhood that i see this in. interesting that i see more lower income people riding bikes for transportation than middle and upper class.

At a construction site I pass on my way to work they had the construction guys park about a half mile away in a parking lot the building guy must have rented. A lot of the guys rode bikes from the lot to the site. They would pass right in front of me at a light.

The oddest thing I saw.... A Colnago C40 being ridden by a guy in work boots and overhauls. I so wish I had a camera ready to get a photo of it.

the upside down handlebards is a pretty common setup for those only able to afford a $25 bike from cheapskates and not wanting to bend all the way over (or not able to do so).

I came across a guy like that, riding with two giant plastic bags of crushed cans in each hand. He cracked a good joke about not being able to keep up on account of poor aerodynamics. We had a good laugh.

The couriers around here are their own subset. One got pummeled recently by an angry driver. Videos and photos showed this poor fixie riding, skinny jeaned hipster getting thumped on a sidewalk. Then you find out that the cops didn't not charge the driver. WTF? Then you find out Mr. Hipster was riding down a one way street in the correct direction in center of the left hand to make a left at the next cross street but was holding up this driver. Then made his left and crossed to the right in front of the driver, words were exchanged where the driver suggested the cyclist should have been in the bike lane on the one way street. The cyclist reached into the car and pulled something out of the car, the driver cut him off and the scuffle happened. The genesis of the story started as a poor innocent cyclist just riding along and turned into douche cyclist riding like an entitled dick getting in the way and riding badly followed by grabbing property through a car window getting his comeuppance.

And that one way street has a two way segregated bike lane on the right hand side that cyclists are supposed to confine themselves to. Cyclist was in the wrong and got upset when the motorist pointed that out to him, probably not that politely, so i think there was douchbaggery on both parties.

You ever see the guys in North Van with the shopping carts full o0f recyclables OC? Riding them downhill at high speeds? For thoise not aware, North Vancouver is located on the side of the North Shore Mountains. Not much is flat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JHYt7n58E

Nope Ben; rules are the same. Its just the occasional numbskull driver that don't get it as I am sure is the case in Portland as well. Overall a pretty well planned bike infrastucture network in Greater Vancouver; I don't think we're far behind Portland if we are behind at all (maybe we're ahead).

The case Andy quoted was one of two hot heads, one in a car the other on a bike. Oh well.

In this case Ben cyclists are supposed to ride in the separated segregated bike lane on the right side of the one way street. The segregated bike line is two way and I believe you have an advanced green to make a left turn from the right side. Or a delayed green. The cyclist should not been with traffic.

I find the traffic lights at these intersection a bit confusing at first. And because they are two way, some riders think all bike lanes are two way. On my commute home there is a downhill section where you could hit 30 kph easy and might be pedalling 40 kph or more to make a light. In a segregated lane that is one way and I have come upon the same dizzy broad tottering uphill in a salad bowl helmet, sit up ang beg bike with basket going the wrong way. Ding dong.

Posted By Andy Eunson on 02/07/2014 10:31 PM
In this case Ben cyclists are supposed to ride in the separated segregated bike lane on the right side of the one way street. The segregated bike line is two way and I believe you have an advanced green to make a left turn from the right side. Or a delayed green. The cyclist should not been with traffic.

I find the traffic lights at these intersection a bit confusing at first. And because they are two way, some riders think all bike lanes are two way. On my commute home there is a downhill section where you could hit 30 kph easy and might be pedalling 40 kph or more to make a light. In a segregated lane that is one way and I have come upon the same dizzy broad tottering uphill in a salad bowl helmet, sit up ang beg bike with basket going the wrong way. Ding dong.

I doubt there is any law compelling cyclists to use a bike lane or to use the right side bike lane in advance of a left turn. Section 183 of the BC motor vehicle act has no such references. A bicycle is permitted to use any lane that a car would to make the same maneuver. The law only requires a cyclist to ride as far to the right as practicable. That is not interpreted as possible but in consideration of the road width, the condition of the road near the curb, and obstacles like drains. While the conflict with the car driver was probably a little too much attitude from both the car driver and the bike rider, the police did little to educate anyone but letting the matter slide a consensual fight.
That said with the proliferation of bike lanes, a lot of drivers are getting aggressive about their "right to pass" slow moving cyclists. Turning left from a right hand bike lane across several lanes of cars is in my mind terrifying and the complete antithesis of good cycling practice. It is counter to everything I learned to improve my presence and safety. Then trusting the drivers to respect the cycling advance green? how many drivers know how those boxes are really supposed to work? left lane, left turn or go to the opposite corner and wait for the light to change like a pedestrian.

What Master50 says is typical and in the spirit of the law. But it sounds like on Dunsmuir Street the expectation (and that is different from the law) is different. Watch 1:58 min in, it explains it. Bloody stupid if you ask me. I'll be avoiding that street the way its been set up and would rather duke it out in traffic. Accidents waiting to happen.

Not sure about the Vancouver by laws. I'll have to remember to look and see if there is signage dictating that bikes must use the segregated lane. I think there is but I am not positive. To make a left turn at this intersection you are supposed to go across to a green painted bike box on the right and wait for the traffic light to change unless there is specific traffic controls for this. I can check at lunch next week if I remember. Short walk from the office.

alright, so my minions have been hard at work scouring the landscape for witnesses to this egregious event and i finally have the information at hand about how this thing went down.

- both parties are heading north on hornby - cyclist was in the far left lane, not the bike lane. - cyclist was in the middle of that lane and muthafooking COASTING down the street. - driver was stuck behind him but decided to just follow and not honk or anything. - the parties get to the corner of hornby and dunsmuir where there's a red light. - driver wants to turn left but can't because said cyclist is sitting in the middle of the lane preventing the driver from turning left when there were a few opportunities to do so.

- finally the light turns green, they make the left and the cyclsit cuts over to the bike lane. - the driver rolls down the window and yells out to the cyclist to stay in the bike lane and then drives off. - cyclist sprints after him and at the next light the driver stops abruptly (he's caught the red) as cyclist comes tearing up and tries to stop quickly too but hits the brakes to hard and ends up flipping himself over the bars. - so the driver did not swerve to force him off the road at all.

- cyclsit then gets up and tries to rip the side mirror off the car at which point the driver rolls down the window and tells him to stop. - cyclist then reaches in to grab something off the front seat and the driver grabs the cyclist arm to stop him. - cyclist then grabs the papers off the front seat and throws them on the sidewalk. - cyclist then walks back over to his bike and that's when the driver gets out of his car to get his stuff back from the cyclist (that the driver thought he stole).

so considering the actions of this dickhead cyclist, i think he's lucky the guy only tried to restrain him to get his stuff back and didn't start punching him in the head right away.

Andy, this is what 100,000 years of evolution has brought? These are the actions of the most intelligent species on the planet? (Some dolphins and whales may be more intelligent, but since they neither ride bicycles or drive cars, a side by side comparison is difficult.)

Actually, this cyclist is just your "normal" trackie, a sprinter. Just taking in the road/traffic experience to hone his skills. That slow roll down Hornby? Well he lost the coin flip and has to take the lead. Can't go slower than a walking pace, but he isn't required to go any faster. At the turn: an opportunity to force the following rider/driver to take the lead. Driver accelerates. The race is on! Can he catch, sit for a few meters then come around for the win? Brake lights! WTF! This is track racing!

Cyclist crashes as a result of the driver's "dirty riding", using brakes. Any wonder why is irate?